Guiding Modern Urban Construction with the People’s City Concept

The city is an important carrier of modernization and a beautiful home for the people’s happy life. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has scientifically grasped the general trend of urban development, deeply observed the laws of urban development, and produced a series of important expositions and major policy decisions regarding urban work. From the 2015 Central Urban Work Conference emphasizing “upholding that the people’s city serves the people,” to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s 2019 proposal that “the people’s city is built by the people, and the people’s city serves the people,” and then to the 2025 Central Urban Work Conference proposing “taking the construction of a modern people’s city that is innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and intelligent as the goal,” the people’s city concept has pointed the direction for urban construction in the New Era. On the new journey, how to deeply grasp the scientific connotation of the people’s city, integrate it comprehensively into the practice of urban construction, vigorously promote high-quality urban development, and continuously create a new situation in modern urban construction is a major epochal issue we must answer well.

城市是现代化的重要载体，是人民幸福生活的美好家园。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央科学把握城市发展大势，深刻洞察城市发展规律，围绕城市工作作出一系列重要论述和重大决策部署。从2015年中央城市工作会议强调“坚持人民城市为人民”，到2019年习近平总书记提出“人民城市人民建，人民城市为人民”，再到2025年中央城市工作会议提出“以建设创新、宜居、美丽、韧性、文明、智慧的现代化人民城市为目标”，人民城市理念为新时代城市建设指明了方向。新征程上，如何深刻把握人民城市的科学内涵，将其全方位融入城市建设实践之中，大力推动城市高质量发展，不断开创现代化城市建设新局面，是我们必须回答好的重大时代课题。

I. Grasping the People’s City Concept from the Trajectory of China’s Modern Urban Construction

一、从我国现代化城市建设轨迹把握人民城市理念

As the material carrier of modernization and the spatial representation of human civilization, the trajectory of urban development is not only a spatial projection of economic and social development but also deeply reflects the historical process of national modernization. The magnificent course of modern urban construction in New China profoundly embodies the important leap of the people’s city concept from practical exploration to systematic theory and deepened implementation.

作为现代化的物质载体与人类文明的空间表征，城市的发展轨迹，既是经济社会发展在空间上的投射，也深刻映射出国家现代化的历史进程。新中国波澜壮阔的现代化城市建设历程，深刻体现了人民城市理念从实践探索向系统理论与深化落实的重要跃升。

In the early period after the founding of New China, during the initial stage of industrialization when everything was waiting to be rebuilt, facing the reality of a poor and blank national condition, our Party shifted its work focus from the countryside to the cities, striving to “transform consumer cities into producer cities.” Urban construction in this period was subordinated to the urgent needs of national industrial accumulation, with resources preferentially allocated to industrial construction. Urban space was restructured into a “work-unit system” space serving production, with walled and enclosed “compounds” as the basic cells of the city. This development tone, centered on production with life subordinate to production, although it compressed urban consumption and public space to a certain extent, laid the spatial foundation of China’s industrial system in a relatively short time and accelerated the process of socialist industrialization.

新中国成立初期，在百废待兴的工业化起步阶段，面对一穷二白的现实国情，我们党把工作重心由农村转移到城市，着力“将消费的城市变成生产的城市”。这一时期的城市建设服从于国家工业化积累的急迫需求，资源优先配置于工业建设。城市空间被重构为服务于生产的“单位制”空间，以围墙封闭的“大院”作为城市的基本细胞。这种以生产为重心、生活从属于生产的发展基调，虽然在一定程度上压缩了城市的消费与公共空间，却在较短时间内奠定了我国工业体系的空间基础，加速了社会主义工业化的进程。

Since reform and opening up, China has initiated the largest and fastest urbanization process in human history, and urban development has released unprecedented vitality and potential. With the deepening reform of the land system and the housing system, urban construction entered a stage of rapid development, with new district development and old city reconstruction carried out in coordination, and significant changes occurred in urban spatial form and construction intensity. Through continuous large-scale urban construction practices, China effectively alleviated the housing shortage that had long constrained the urbanization process, significantly enhanced the supply capacity of living space, and continuously improved the living conditions and environment of the people. Hundreds of millions of agricultural transfer population entered cities for employment and life, gradually realizing their dream of settling down. This stage of rapid development objectively accumulated abundant material wealth, improved the urban functional system, effectively responded to the basic material needs of the people for modern life, and also accumulated strong momentum for modern urban construction in the New Era. However, this extensive expansionary urban development faced the dilemma of diminishing marginal returns, resource and environmental constraints gradually tightened, and problems such as “a thousand cities with one face” and the dissolution of cultural context gradually emerged.

改革开放以来，我国开启了人类历史上规模最大、速度最快的城镇化进程，城市发展释放出前所未有的活力与潜能。随着土地制度与住房制度改革的深入推进，城市建设进入快速发展阶段，新区开发与旧城改造协同展开，城市空间形态与建设强度发生显著变化。通过持续的大规模城市建设实践，我国有效缓解了长期制约城镇化进程的住房短缺问题，居住空间供给能力明显增强，人民群众的居住条件和生活环境持续改善，数以亿计的农业转移人口进入城市就业生活，并逐步实现安居梦。这一阶段的快速发展，客观上积累了丰厚的物质财富，完善了城市功能体系，切实回应了人民群众对现代化生活的基本物质需求，也为新时代现代化城市建设积蓄了强大势能。然而，这种外延扩张式的城市发展面临边际效应递减的困境，资源环境约束逐渐收紧，“千城一面”与文脉消解等问题逐步显现。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly proposed the people’s city concept, emphasizing that “the people’s city is built by the people, and the people’s city serves the people,” “promoting a new type of urbanization centered on people,” and “integrating the concept of full life-cycle management into every process and link of urban planning, construction, and management,” among other things. This series of important expositions profoundly elucidates the value orientation, goals and tasks, and thinking methods of urban construction in the New Era, and represents a deep grasp of the laws of urban development. Guided by the people’s city concept, China’s urban development has achieved historic accomplishments that have attracted worldwide attention: the urbanization rate of the permanent resident population jumped from 53.1% in 2012 to 67% in 2024, the “two horizontals and three verticals” urbanization strategic pattern has basically taken shape, a total of over 68 million units of various types of government-subsidized housing and shantytown renovation resettlement housing have been built, the world’s largest housing security system has been established, a multi-level historical and cultural protection and inheritance system has preserved the city’s cultural context and “lively atmosphere,” and ecological restoration projects have restored green waters and green mountains to cities. China’s cities have taken solid steps in structural optimization, kinetic energy conversion, quality improvement, green transformation, cultural context continuation, and governance efficiency enhancement, increasingly becoming the key support for the people’s good life.

党的十八大以来，习近平总书记鲜明提出人民城市理念，强调“人民城市人民建，人民城市为人民”，“推进以人为核心的新型城镇化”，“把全生命周期管理理念贯穿城市规划、建设、管理全过程各环节”，等等。这一系列重要论述，深刻阐明了新时代城市建设的价值取向、目标任务与思路方法，是对城市发展规律的深刻把握。在人民城市理念指引下，我国城市发展取得了举世瞩目的历史性成就：常住人口城镇化率从2012年的53.1%跃升至2024年的67%，“两横三纵”的城镇化战略格局基本形成，累计建设各类保障性住房和棚改安置住房6800多万套，建成全球最大的住房保障体系，多层级历史文化保护传承体系留住了城市的文脉与“烟火气”，生态修复工程让城市重现绿水青山。我国城市在结构优化、动能转换、品质提升、绿色转型、文脉赓续、治理增效等方面迈出坚实步伐，日益成为人民美好生活的关键依托。

Reviewing the trajectory of urban construction since the founding of New China, especially the achievements in urban construction since the New Era, we can deeply recognize that the people’s city concept transcends the material spatial production dominated by instrumental rationality and is essentially a profound transformation reshaping the relationship between people and cities, aiming to achieve a shift in urban development from “appreciation of things” to “people-centeredness” through the social reconstruction of space. By reshaping the goals, operational mechanisms, and governance methods of urban construction, the people’s city concept organically unifies the improvement of people’s livelihoods, development transformation, and governance modernization, making the city a highly comprehensive and distinctly emblematic practical field in the process of Chinese-path modernization. The modern urban construction of the New Era guided by the people’s city concept is transcending mere material creation, moving toward a new realm where people’s comprehensive development and social civilization progress are unified, and is presenting a new form of human urban civilization.

回顾新中国成立以来的城市建设轨迹，特别是新时代以来的城市建设成就，我们能够深切认识到：人民城市理念超越了工具理性主导下的物质空间生产，实质上是一场重塑人与城市关系的深刻变革，旨在通过空间的社会性重构，实现城市发展从“物的增值”向“以人为本”的转变。人民城市理念通过重塑城市建设目标、运行机制与治理方式，把民生改善、发展转型与治理现代化有机统一起来，使城市成为中国式现代化进程中具有高度综合性和鲜明标识性的实践场域。以人民城市理念引领的新时代现代化城市建设正超越单纯的物质营造，迈向人的全面发展与社会文明进步相统一的崭新境界，正在呈现出人类城市文明的新形态。

II. Confronting Problems and Challenges in Modern Urban Construction

二、直面现代化城市建设中的问题和挑战

Currently, China’s urban development is undergoing a broad and profound transformation, bidding farewell to the extensive development model of large-scale incremental expansion and fully entering a new stage of connotative development focused on improving the quality of existing stock. The development of social productive forces, changes in population structure, protection of historical and cultural heritage, and urban governance all place higher demands on urban development. Modern urban construction must confront a series of deep-seated problems and challenges.

当前，我国城市发展正经历一场广泛而深刻的变革，告别大规模增量扩张的粗放发展模式，全面迈入存量提质的内涵式发展新阶段。社会生产力发展、人口结构变化、历史文化遗产保护、城市治理都对城市发展提出了更高要求，现代化城市建设必须直面一系列深层次的问题和挑战。

First, the high-quality development of the economy and society, especially the leap in new quality productive forces, imposes a reshaping requirement of “iteration and renewal” on spatial supply and functional organization. Traditional manufacturing industries represented by steel, cement, and textiles have spatial characteristics of large-scale standardized workshops and concentrated contiguous industrial land, superimposed with local land finance-driven incentives, which objectively promoted the “pancake-spreading” disorderly expansion of cities. Currently, new quality productive forces represented by fields such as new-generation information technology and artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed their demands on space, requiring flexible research and development spaces that can stimulate innovative thinking, open innovation platforms that promote cross-border exchange, and high-quality factor agglomerations that can attract and retain talent, overall presenting a notable characteristic of “small yet refined, highly composite, strongly linked, and rapidly iterating.” This fundamental shift from “hard” to “soft” and from “large” to “refined” requires that in the practice of urban construction, we must systematically promote the coordination of regional layout, the compounding of land use structure, the diversification of spatial form, and the flexibility of functional organization.

一是经济社会的高质量发展，特别是新质生产力跃升，对空间供给与功能组织提出了“迭代焕新”的重塑要求。以钢铁、水泥、纺织等为代表的传统制造业，其空间特征是大尺度的标准化厂房、集中连片的工业用地，叠加地方土地财政驱动，客观上助推了城市“摊大饼”式的无序扩张。当前，以新一代信息技术、人工智能等领域为代表的新质生产力对空间的需求发生了根本性改变，需要能激发创新思维的灵活研发空间、促进跨界交流的开放创新平台，以及吸引和留住人才的高品质要素集聚地，整体呈现出“小而精、高复合、强链接、快迭代”的显著特点。这一从“硬”到“软”、从“大”到“精”的根本性转变，要求我们在城市建设的实践中，必须系统性地推动区域布局的协同化、用地结构的复合化、空间形态的多元化和功能组织的弹性化。

Second, changes in population structure impose more diverse demands on urban functions, reshaping the pattern of urban spatial demand. On the one hand, population aging is becoming increasingly severe. By the end of 2024, China’s population aged 60 and above accounted for 22% of the total population, and those aged 65 and above accounted for 15.6%. The intensification of aging places greater pressure on the urban public service system, with demand for facilities such as elderly care and community medical services growing rapidly. On the other hand, the housing needs of new and old citizen groups have undergone new changes: a large number of “old citizens” living in old residential communities are troubled by the “livability” problem of aging infrastructure and shortage of public space; while new citizens and youth groups, as the vitality and future of the city, face the housing difficulty of “buying a house is hard” and also put forward diverse demands for work-housing balance, social interaction, and personalized life experiences. These structural contradictions intertwine with each other, urgently requiring systematic resolution through more refined and targeted urban development strategies.

二是人口结构的变化对城市功能诉求更加多样，正在重塑城市空间需求格局。一方面，人口老龄化日益严重，截至2024年底，我国60岁及以上的老年人口占总人口的22%，65岁及以上老年人口占15.6%。老龄化加剧使城市公共服务体系面临更大压力，对养老护理、社区医疗等设施的需求迅速增长。另一方面，新老市民群体的居住需求出现新的变化：大量居住在老旧小区的“老市民”，受困于基础设施老化、公共空间短缺的“宜居”难题；而作为城市活力与未来的新市民和青年群体，在面临“买房难”等安居困境的同时，更对职住平衡、社交互动及个性化生活体验提出了多样化诉求。这些结构性矛盾相互交织，迫切需要通过更为精细化、更具针对性的城市发展策略来系统性破解。

Third, historical culture, as the soul of a city, faces the risks of “losing its soul” and “losing its flavor” in practice. On one hand, there is the short-sighted behavior of “losing the soul.” Some regions have still not shaken off the extensive urban development model of “tearing down and starting over” and “large-scale demolition and construction,” carrying out destruction in the name of renovation, severing the city’s cultural lineage and social fabric, causing the city to lose the soul on which it depends for habitation and the spatial carriers that bear collective memory, neglecting the interests of original residents, and also pushing up the housing costs for new citizens and young people to integrate into the city. On the other hand, there is the homogenization of urban features that “loses the flavor.” Some construction projects lack in-depth excavation of local culture, blindly replicate uniform commercial models, and excessively pursue short-term economic benefits, leading to “a thousand cities with one face,” with historic districts degenerating into lifeless “fake antiques.” Therefore, how to deeply integrate the historical context with modern life and new quality productive forces, both inheriting historical heritage and meeting the people’s needs for a better life, is becoming the key to testing the quality and humanistic warmth of urban construction.

三是历史文化作为城市的灵魂，在实践中面临“失魂”与“变味”的风险。一方面是“失魂”的短视行为。部分地区仍未摆脱“推倒重来”、“大拆大建”的粗放城市发展模式，以改造之名行破坏之实，割裂了城市文脉与社会肌理，导致城市丧失了赖以栖居的灵魂与承载集体记忆的空间载体，忽视了原住居民的利益，还推高了新市民、青年人融入城市的居住成本。另一方面是“变味”的风貌同质化。部分建设项目缺乏对在地文化的深度挖掘，盲目复制统一的商业模式，过度追求短期经济效益，导致“千城一面”，历史街区沦为缺乏活力的“假古董”。因此，如何将历史文脉与现代生活、新质生产力深度融合，既传承历史底蕴，又满足人民对美好生活的需求，正成为检验城市建设的成色和人文温度的关键所在。

Fourth, the misalignment between governance effectiveness and people’s expectations constitutes a deep-seated contradiction in the modern urban governance system. Facing the characteristics of high density, high mobility, and rapid change in modern cities, governance in some areas still follows the traditional models of “experience-based decision-making” and “passive response.” There is a lack of efficient coordination and linkage mechanisms between cities, regions, and departments, coupled with the “information silo” effect caused by data barriers, leading to lagging risk perception and difficulty in achieving early warning and prevention of risks. These governance pressures are transmitted layer by layer, further exacerbating the overload predicament at the grassroots level of “a thousand threads threaded through the eye of a single needle.” [5]5 “A thousand threads threaded through the eye of a single needle” (千条线、一根针) is a Chinese idiom describing the situation where grassroots-level officials bear the burden of implementing numerous policies and tasks from higher-level authorities. The granularity of urban governance determines the warmth of the city. If precise policy implementation cannot be used to crack the stubborn problem of extensive management and to open up the “last kilometer” of serving the masses, the happy底色 of the people’s city will be difficult to brighten.

四是治理效能与人民期许之间的错位，构成了城市现代化治理体系中的深层次矛盾。面对现代城市高密度、大流动、快变化的特征，部分领域的治理依然沿袭传统的“经验决策”与“被动响应”模式，城市间、区域间、部门间缺乏高效的协同联动机制，加之数据壁垒造成的“信息孤岛”效应，导致风险感知滞后，难以实现对风险的预警与防范。这些治理压力层层传导，进一步加剧基层“千条线、一根针”的超载困境。城市治理的颗粒度决定了城市的温度，若不能以精准施策破解粗放顽疾，打通服务群众的“最后一公里”，人民城市的幸福底色就难以擦亮。

While recognizing the problems and challenges, we must also recognize that China’s modern urban construction possesses many advantages and favorable conditions. The centralized and unified leadership of the Party provides a fundamental institutional guarantee for urban construction, enabling the coordination of resource allocation and policy orientation at a higher level, and transforming overall deployment into multi-level, systematic institutional arrangements. New quality productive forces are accelerating their integration into the urban construction process. New technologies represented by artificial intelligence, digital twins, drones, and city brains are continuously expanding urban perception, research and judgment, and governance capabilities, providing important support for achieving precise planning, refined construction, and efficient governance. In fact, problems and challenges are precisely the important focal points for advancing modern urban construction. We must fully leverage our advantages, focus on problems, tackle difficulties, and build cities into spaces for the people’s high-quality life.

在看到问题和挑战的同时，还要认识到我国现代化城市建设具备诸多优势和有利条件。党的集中统一领导为城市建设提供了根本制度保障，能够在更高层级统筹资源配置、协调政策取向，并将整体部署转化为多层级、系统化的制度安排。新质生产力加快融入城市建设进程，以人工智能、数字孪生、无人机、城市大脑等为代表的新技术不断拓展城市感知、研判与治理能力，为实现精准规划、精细建设和高效治理提供了重要支撑。事实上，问题和挑战正是推进现代化城市建设的重要着力点，我们要充分发挥优势，聚焦问题、攻坚克难，把城市打造成人民群众高品质生活的空间。

III. Solidly Promoting the Implementation of the People-Centered City Concept in Modern Urban Construction

三、扎实推进人民城市理念在现代化城市建设中落地见效

Building a modern city concerns the sense of gain, happiness, and security of hundreds of millions of people, concerns the profound transformation of the economic and social development model, and concerns the overall leap in the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. It is a complex systemic project involving the overall economic and social development. We must thoroughly implement the spirit of the Central Urban Work Conference, [6]6 The Central Urban Work Conference (中央城市工作会议) is a high-level meeting convened by the CPC Central Committee to set the direction and priorities for urban development in China. target the problems and challenges facing modern urban construction, and make concerted efforts in key areas such as regional coordination, living environment, cultural protection, and co-construction and co-governance, to put the people-centered city concept into practice.

建设现代化城市，关乎亿万群众的获得感、幸福感和安全感，关乎经济社会发展方式的深刻转型，关乎国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的整体跃升，是一项涉及经济社会发展全局的复杂系统工程。我们要深入贯彻中央城市工作会议精神，针对现代化城市建设面临的问题和挑战，在区域统筹、人居环境、文化保护、共建共治等关键层面协同发力，将人民城市理念落到实处。

Regional coordination: break through the development limitations of individual cities, take urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas as the framework, and build a pattern of coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities. Looking at the evolution of global cities, cities such as London and Tokyo have already moved away from the development path of individual sprawl, and urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas have become the core spatial organizational forms for carrying modern development. The 2025 Central Urban Work Conference deployed key tasks in seven areas, emphasizing in the primary task “developing clustered, networked modern urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas.” Modern urban construction should break through the administrative boundaries of individual cities, use “integration” to break down regional barriers, promote the orderly and free flow of production factors such as capital, labor, and technology, and focus on achieving the integration of public services such as elderly care, medical care, and education, so that boundaries dissolve and surrounding people can equally enjoy the fruits of modern civilization from central cities, effectively solving the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development. At the same time, measures should be tailored to local conditions, clarifying the mission and responsibility of cities at different levels: the core of mega and super-large cities lies in “optimization and quality improvement,” leveraging their unique advantages to enhance global competitiveness and radiation driving capacity while focusing on solving the housing difficulties of new citizens and young people to achieve a leap in new quality productive forces; small and medium-sized cities should base themselves on their own endowments, improve livability to attract industries and talent; and the vast number of county towns should serve as the “hub link” for urban-rural integration, promoting urbanization with county towns as important carriers and making up for shortcomings in public services. Through the overall driving force of urban agglomerations, we can achieve intensive and efficient land use, industrial transformation and upgrading, and common economic growth.

区域统筹，突破单体城市发展局限，以城市群和都市圈为框架，构建大中小城市协同发展的格局。纵观全球城市演进历程，伦敦、东京等城市已经摆脱单体蔓延的发展路径，城市群和都市圈已成为承载现代化发展的核心空间组织形式。2025年中央城市工作会议部署了7个方面的重点任务，在首要任务中强调，“发展组团式、网络化的现代化城市群和都市圈”。现代化城市建设应突破单体城市的行政边界，以“一体化”打破区域壁垒，促进资本、劳动力、技术等生产要素有序自由流动，重点实现养老、医疗、教育等公共服务的一体化，让边界消融，让周边群众平等享受到中心城市的现代文明成果，切实解决发展不平衡不充分问题。同时，要因地制宜，明确不同能级城市的使命担当：超大特大城市核心在于“优化提质”，发挥自身独特优势，在提升全球竞争力和辐射带动力的同时，着力解决新市民、青年人的安居难题，实现新质生产力的跃升；中小城市要立足自身禀赋，提升宜居性以承接产业与人才；广大县城则要作为城乡融合的“枢纽链接”，推进以县城为重要载体的城镇化，补齐公共服务短板。通过城市群的整体带动，实现用地集约高效、产业转型升级与经济共同增长。

Improve the living environment, taking the construction of “good housing” as the foundation of modern urban construction. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [7]7 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC (党的二十届四中全会) refers to the fourth plenary meeting of the 20th Central Committee, typically held to discuss and decide on major national policies. proposed building “good housing” that is safe, comfortable, green, and smart. As China’s housing development enters a new stage where both stock and increment are emphasized, the people’s demand for housing has shifted from “having or not having” to “good or not good,” with a greater focus on quality. To adapt to this shift, housing supply must be upgraded from quantity to quality, balancing both rigid and improved housing needs, promoting the upgrading of living quality while ensuring basic housing security. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate the construction of new housing to “build” good housing and urban renewal to “renovate” good housing. In addition, it is necessary to establish a “full life cycle” construction concept. At the planning and design end, start from the details, strengthen age-friendly, child-friendly, and barrier-free design; at the construction and construction end, vigorously promote new construction methods and green building materials to solve long-standing problems troubling the masses such as water leakage and poor sound insulation; at the operation and maintenance service end, introduce digital homes and smart property management to empower the living experience with technology. By building “good housing” that is safe, comfortable, green, and smart, we promote the systematic construction of “good neighborhoods, good communities, and good urban areas,” moving from “having a place to live” to “living in a superior place.”

改善人居环境，把建设“好房子”作为现代化城市建设的基点。党的二十届四中全会提出，建设安全舒适绿色智慧的“好房子”。随着我国住房发展进入存量与增量并重的新阶段，人民群众对住房的需求从“有没有”转向更加注重质量的“好不好”。为顺应这一转变，住房供给必须由量向质提升，统筹兼顾刚性与改善性住房需求，在保障基本安居的同时推动居住品质升级。因此，需要统筹推进新建住房“建成”好房子、城市更新“改出”好房子。此外，还需要确立“全生命周期”的建设理念。在规划设计端，从细微处入手，强化适老化、儿童友好与无障碍设计；在建设施工端，大力推广新型建造方式与绿色建材，解决漏水、隔音差等长期困扰群众的通病；在运维服务端，引入数字家庭与智慧物业，让科技赋能居住体验。通过建设安全舒适绿色智慧的“好房子”，推动“好小区、好社区、好城区”的系统构建，让“住有所居”向“住有优居”迈进。

Adhere to protection first, constructing a protection system from the macro pattern to the meso texture to the micro form. Historical culture is the soul of a city. To advance modern urban construction, we must continuously improve the historical and cultural protection and inheritance system. At the macro level of protecting famous historical and cultural cities, the focus is on “preserving the pattern,” strengthening systematic control over the city’s landscape, traditional axes, and overall spatial form, ensuring the coexistence of the city’s natural geographical environment and human historical context, and maintaining the integrity of the city’s features. At the meso level of district protection, the focus is on “continuing the texture,” strictly implementing the requirement that “old cities can no longer be demolished,” comprehensively investigating old cities and their historical and cultural districts, ascertaining the number of cultural heritage resources in old urban neighborhoods, old districts, and old factory areas, delineating the strictest protection scope, preventing cultural discontinuity caused by excessive commercialization, and safeguarding the city’s “spirit of place.” At the micro level of historic building protection, resolutely abandon the extensive model of large-scale demolition and construction, replace it with organic renewal and adaptive renovation, maintain the original social ecology and neighborhood structure, and explore inclusive urban renewal that “retains people, retains form, and retains nostalgia.”

坚持保护优先，构建从宏观格局到中观肌理再到微观形态的保护体系。历史文化是城市的灵魂，推进现代化城市建设，须持续完善历史文化保护传承体系。在宏观层面的历史文化名城保护上，重在“守住格局”，强化对城市山水形胜、传统轴线及整体空间形态的系统性管控，确保城市自然地理环境与人文历史脉络的共生共存，维护城市风貌的完整性。在中观层面的街区保护上，重在“延续肌理”，严格落实“老城不能再拆”的要求，全面调查老城及其历史文化街区，摸清城镇老旧小区、老旧街区、老旧厂区文化遗产资源底数，划定最严格的保护范围，防止因过度商业化导致的文化断层，守护好城市的“场所精神”。在微观层面的历史建筑保护上，坚决摒弃大拆大建的粗放模式，代之以有机更新与适应性改造，维护好原有的社会生态与邻里结构，探索“留人、留形、留乡愁”的包容性城市更新。

Adhere to the systems concept and build a new pattern of co-construction and co-governance featuring scientific diagnosis and precise governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “Create a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance, and shared benefits.” [8]8 Xi Jinping’s remark, from his report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, calls for a social governance model based on joint contribution, shared governance, and shared benefits. This requires us to deeply embed the people’s city concept into the entire chain of urban governance and promote a systemic leap in governance effectiveness. Innovate the concepts, models, and means of urban governance, give play to the guiding role of Party building, improve the work capacity of grassroots communities, and unblock the “nerve endings” of urban governance. [9]9 “Nerve endings” is a metaphor for the most basic and frontline units of urban governance, such as neighborhood committees and community service stations. We should strengthen “digital-intelligent health checks,” shift the focus of governance forward to source diagnosis and judgment, use big data analysis and artificial intelligence technology to accurately identify problems and determine governance priorities, and achieve a leap from “experience-based decision-making” to “data-based decision-making.” We should also improve the response closed loop, deeply integrating “immediate handling of complaints” with “evaluation and feedback.” [10]10 “Immediate handling of complaints” (接诉即办) is a Beijing municipal governance reform launched in 2019 that requires government agencies to promptly respond to and resolve public complaints received through a unified hotline. Taking the demands of the masses as the starting point, we should push the governance logic to extend from “handle one case at a time” to the proactive governance of “draw inferences about other cases from one instance and handle matters before complaints are filed,” forming a virtuous cycle of “planning—construction—evaluation—feedback—improvement,” and strive to achieve the resonance of urban governance with the gathering of people’s hearts.

坚持系统观念，构建科学诊断、精准治理的共建共治新格局。习近平总书记强调，“打造共建共治共享的社会治理格局”。这就要求我们将人民城市理念深度嵌入城市治理全链条，推动治理效能的系统性跃升。创新城市治理的理念、模式、手段，发挥党建引领作用，提高基层社区的工作能力，打通城市治理的“神经末梢”。应强化“数智体检”，将治理重心向源头研判前移，通过大数据分析与人工智能技术，精准查找病灶，确定治理重点，实现从“经验决策”向“数据决策”的跨越。还应完善响应闭环，将“接诉即办”与“评价反馈”深度融合。要以群众诉求为起点，推动治理逻辑从“有一办一”向“举一反三、未诉先办”的主动治理延伸，形成“规划—建设—评价—反馈—改进”的良性循环，着力实现城市治理与民心凝聚的同频共振。

Modern urban construction is not a specialized project in a single field, but a systemic project that coordinates spatial reconstruction, institutional innovation, and governance transformation. Looking toward the 15th Five-Year Plan period, [11]11 The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) is the next national economic and social development plan of China, succeeding the current 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025). we must carry the people’s city concept through the entire process of urban planning, construction, and governance, make sustained efforts in deepening the concept, supplying institutions, and coordinating pathways, and build modern people’s cities with greater vitality and a sense of well-being.

现代化城市建设并非单一领域的专项工程，而是一项统筹空间重构、制度创新与治理变革的系统性工程。面向“十五五”，要把人民城市理念贯穿城市规划、建设、治理全过程，在理念深化、制度供给与路径协同上持续发力，建设更具活力与幸福感的现代化人民城市。

Author: Deputy Director and Researcher of the Urban Renewal Research Center, National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China

作者：中国人民大学国家发展与战略研究院城市更新研究中心副主任、研究员